Apparatus for driving internally tapered pile shell sections



E. D. WATT 1,847,853

APPARATUS FOR DRIVING INTERNALLY TAPERED FILE SHELL SECTIONS March I, 1932.

Filed Aug. 12, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Flt-3.4. v l' W FIG.1.

w Cow/ Now 13% abtoq/m FIG E. D. WATT March 1, 1932.

APPARATUS FOR DRIVING INTERNALLY TAPERED FILE SHELL SECTIONS Filed Aug. 12, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIGS.

. avwemtoz 5% Wm? M, MW d MW Patented. Mar. 1, 1932 v UNITE-DST-ATES PATENT OFFICE I ELII-IU D. WATT, OF LA GRANGE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO RAYMOND CONCRETE- PILE COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y-, A OR-POR-ATION OF NEW JERSEY I APPARATUS FOR DRIVING INTERNALLY TAPERED PILE SHELL SECTIONS Application filed August 12, 930. Serial No. 474,744.

This invention pertains to concrete piles, with particular reference to apparatus and method for driving thin concrete shells preparatory to filling them with concrete to form a monolithic pile structure.

The present invention contemplates the formation of a cylindrical (non-taper) pile. Heretofore it has been customary to drive shells for such piles by hammer blows aplc plied to the top of the shell. This required the shell to be of considerable thickness in order to withstand the strains of driving, particularly the crushing strains where the end of shell sections contact with each other.

In order to save transportation and handling costs it is desirable to make the shells as thin as possible. The principal object of the present invention is to disclose ways and means for driving thin concrete shells in such manner as to avoid subjecting them to the above mentioned compressive stresses.

To practice the present invention I arrange V on a colla )sible driving core a stack of similar concrete s iell sections, each section being substantially cylindrical on its outer surface and made quite tapered or conical on its inner surface by the insertion of a concrete lining gradually increasing in the thickness of its walls from top to bottom. The driving core.

is provided along its length with a plurality of tapered surfaces each of which is adapted to accommodate and conform to the inner surface of a shell section. The core is driven from the top and each shell section is driven.

of shell section.

1 in assembled relationship, as

5; Fig. is across-section of a stack of shell sections after driving and beforefilling with concrete.

Fig. 4 shows the stack of shell sections on theexpanded core, preparatory to driving.

Fig. 5'is a cross-section of a portion of a finished pile.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged view, mostly incross sect on, showing core and shell.

For the purpose of'e'xplaining the invention, a shell section of the type, shown in Fig.2 is used, in which a very thin slight-l tapered annular metal casing 10 is lined wit a thin layer of concrete 12', reinforced by steel rings 14. The concrete lining of the shell section is made considerably tapered or conical on its inner surface by increasing the thickness of the walls thereoff'rom a point adjacent the top'of the section to the bottom thereof, with the small end down, and the upper 'end'of each casing 10 projects above 'the'conc'rete lining so as to receive and over- Fig. 7 is a view on the line 77 of Fig. 6. i

lapthelower end of the section above it when shown in Figs. 3,4.5and6, a

The-driving core is of the collapsible type having threele'aveslti, which may be moved outwardly or inwardly byv toggles 18 connected toverticalaxial shaftor rod 20 adapted for operation in well known manner by mechanism within driving head 22. The surfaces of leaves 16 are so shaped that when they are assembled to form the core,

they provide a series of tapered or conical surfaces, each adapted toengage a shell section of the kind shown inFig. 2. The core is shown'in Fig. 1 without'shells, and in Figs. 4

and 6 with shells. In the last named figures the core is expanded to engage a stack of shell sections, each section being engaged by a conical section of the core. Fig. 4 shows the assembly ready. for driving, a shoe 24 being provided on the lower end with a casing 26 overlapping the lowest shell section.

It will be appreciated that when the assembly in Fig. 4 is driven by blows or pressure applied to head 22 the driving effect willbe transmitted from the core to each shell section individually on account of their tapered inter-relationship, and it will not be necessary to transmit force vertically from shell section to shell section.

Afterthe driving operation is finished the core is collapsed and withdrawn, leaving a hollow shell in the ground as in Fig. 3. This shell is then filled wit-h plastic concrete 28 as indicated in Fig. 5 to form with the shell sections a monolithic pile structure. Any

spaces such as '30 (Fig.3) between sections are filled by the plastic concrete as shown in Fig. 5.

It is to be understood that the invention 'is not limited to the specific embodiment herein illustrated and described, but may be used in other Ways without departure from its spirit as defined by the following claims.

I claim signature.

' ELIHU D. WATT.

' Aco-re 0 driving a staclr of similarly dimensioned annular pile shells having tapered inner surfaces, comprising in combination, means for expanding saidcore to en- 7 gage said tapered shell surfaces whereby the driving effect is, transmitted from core'to shell through said surfaces, and means for disengaging said core from said surfaces.

2. Apparatus for driving into the ground a pile shell consisting of a stack of similarly dimensioned annular shell sections each having a tapered inner surface, said apparatus comprising means for simultaneously engaging said tapered shell surfaces, whereby driving of said engaging means will carry said stack of sections into the, ground, by virtue of the tapered shape of the engaged surfaces,

and means for disengaging said engaging means from said surfaces whereby said engaging means may be removedfrom said shell to permit filling of the shell with plastic conthe tapered inner surfaces of said shellsections and means for expanding said sections into fitting engagement with the inner S111? faces, of said shells, whereby a driving force applied to the core is transmitted to each shell through the corresponding surface on the core.

5. In combination, astack of similar ly dicrete to form with the shell a monolithic 

